


look what the cat dragged in

by robinjohnblake



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Halloween, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinjohnblake/pseuds/robinjohnblake
Summary: The thing is, when he walks to the car, he hears some muffled noise. It’s coming from underneath it and sounds a lot like a pitiful crying of a small animal. Dele curses but drops to his knees and turns on the flashlight of his Iphone. He can’t stay away, he has to check. And of course there is a kitten sitting underneath his car. Of fucking course.Dele saves a kitten from the streets and meets the most handsome veterinarian in London.
Relationships: Dele Alli/Eric Dier
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	look what the cat dragged in

**Author's Note:**

> it's my first ever work in english, please be nice and bear with me

All his life Dele considered himself to be a dog person. Since when he was a teenager, they’ve had a family dog that he still loves dearly. He cuddled it to sleep every night, right until he moved out of their parents’ house as an 18 year old young adult, even though his brother Harry always made fun of him for being a big baby. He can call him baby all he wants, Dele doesn't mind, as long as he gets to cuddle his old dog when they visit their parents for holidays. 

He and his brother have been living in London for 2 years already. They moved from their boring hometown near the capital to the said capital when they both turned 18. Dele is still looking for his calling in life, doing odd jobs here and there. Right now he is working in a bookstore. He can’t understand how he got there in the first place, he hates reading but he is great at fake smiling, looking pretty and nodding at all the right times so his sales are quite good. His brother Harry has started the second year of college, studying management, the most generic white boy study, as Dele teases him. Dele hated school with a burning passion so until now he has decided to skip college. Maybe next year he’ll change his mind. 

Dele, Harry and Harry’s girlfriend Robin all live together in a small two bedroom duplex in Watford which they share with another pair of broke ass college students. Dele hates it here, because of the never ending chain of tourists coming to visit the Harry Potter Studios. He never understood the hype about the movies, never watched them, and is always so annoyed with crowds of people flooding their neighbourhood. That is why he was extremely grateful when their father presented them both with his old dark grey Volkswagen Polo - a very ugly but still up and running car. 

And for this very reason Dele finds himself in a very peculiar situation on a Friday night, October the 30th. 

He is going to a Halloween party. Yesterday he pulled out a short stick and was very happily pronounced a designated driver for his and his brother’s friends. Harry, Robin and their other two friends Kyle and Dominic are planning to head straight to a party while Dele is the only one who is supposed to arrive by himself in a car and be a babysitter for the whole damn night. He hates it with his whole being but a deal is a deal. 

The thing is, when he walks to the car, he hears some muffled noise. It’s coming from underneath it and sounds a lot like a pitiful crying of a small animal. Dele curses but drops to his knees and turns on the flashlight of his Iphone. He can’t stay away, he has to check. And of course there is a kitten sitting underneath his car. Of fucking course. 

The small cat is ugly. It is black, but somehow its fur becomes a nasty rustic color on its bum. It has a small head and a big disproportionate body. One of its eyes is yellow and the other one is completely covered by black crust. Honestly it is the ugliest cat Dele has ever seen. Still he reaches out and pulls the kitten from underneath the car. The thing isn’t afraid at all and easily lets him take it into his hands. It’s definitely not a tiny kitten, but still not a full grown cat. 

As soon as Dele gets his hands on a poor nugget, it starts purring and he’s immediately in love with it. Then the thing mews pathetically and Dele knows that his fate is decided: this abomination is going with him. First thing first they definitely need to go to the vet’s office because that nasty eye doesn’t look healthy at all.

The problem is, he’s wearing a fucking costume. And the greatest irony is that he’s wearing a wish version of a Black Panther suit. It actually doesn’t look that bad, he has to admit, even though he doesn’t know what he was thinking, when he ordered it - wearing a mask all evening isn’t a very good idea. And now he is ready to be on his way to the vet clinic in a full on Black Panther suit. Even without a mask it is guaranteed to attract some attention. Dele sighs. Whatever. 

Dele leaves the stupid mask in the backseat of his car, blocks the doors and puts the poor kitten into the pocket of his black parka which he threw over his costume for warmth. Conveniently he knows exactly where the nearest veterinary clinic is. He can walk and be there in 15 minutes. 

The cat sits patiently while he races the streets of Watford, thinking to himself what the fuck is he doing. His brother and his friends would be furious for sure when he won’t show up. But he couldn’t leave a poor animal out there in the street, in the cold weather, and it clearly needs help. 

Finally he arrives at the clinic. On his way there he tries to call his brother but he doesn’t pick up his phone so Dele sends a message to their friends’ group chat that he has an emergency and might be late or won’t come at all. He doesn't wait for an answer and steps into the building, hiding his phone in his cat free pocket. 

It’s not that busy inside when he walks to the reception. It’s a small family owned clinic and obviously everybody is busy with the holiday and there are only a few people who have emergencies too: a woman with a rabbit in a cage and a couple about Dele’s age with a sad looking spaniel. Everything inside the clinic is decorated beautifully for Halloween, and seems like every member of the staff is wearing a costume. A very charming blond Cat Woman in her thirties meets him at the desk with a kind smile.

“Hello, I’m Steffi, what has brought you to us today?”

“Hi, I’m Dele, and I found this cat under my car and I’m pretty sure it needs help,” Dele takes the kitten out of his pocket and shows it to the nice lady. 

“Good for you to bring it here,” says Steffi, taking one long look at the cat. “Please sit here and wait for your turn.”

Dele goes to sit on a sofa next to a woman with a rabbit, smiling at her politely. He puts the cat on his knees idle stroking its fur and takes his phone out. The cat purrs so loudly, that Dele feels its vibrations even through his winter jacket. Of course now he has a string of messages from his friends with all kinds of questions about what is going on. He just snaps a photo of the kitten in his lap and sends it to the group chat adding a caption “so this is the emergency”. Then he puts his phone on mute and away because right now he doesn’t want to be bothered with the shit he would definitely get from his friends. 

He has to wait for about 20 minutes. The couple with the dog goes, then the woman with her rabbit, and then it’s his turn. Steffi leads him to the examination room and immediately Dele simply loses his breath. If Dele thought that Steffi is good looking, the veterinarian is actually breathtaking. He is tall, blond, with the brightest, bluest eyes Dele has ever seen. He looks like a fucking Disney prince and maybe Dele falls in love at first sight a little bit. And he is wearing an Indiana Jones costume. What a beautiful dork.

“Hello, doctor Indiana Jones,” Dele shoots out, surprising himself. He cringes inwardly and hopes that the handsome man won’t judge him for his stupid choice of first words. It was the lamest thing he could have come up with and he might have just embarrassed himself eternally. 

“I am Star-Lord,” the handsome guy replies, offended and a little bit irritated. Dele feels even more stupid. Steffi rolls her eyes and leaves them alone, saying on her way out “I’ve told you, stupid: nobody would guess who you are.”

“I’m sorry…” Dele starts speaking and at the same time the beautiful blond guy says “Look, I’m so sorry…”

They both laugh awkwardly and Dele gestures for him to continue. 

“I’m sorry, I’ve been explaining all day who I am. You are my last patient for the day and I might be a little bit tired and snappy. I’m really sorry,” the veterinarian says sheepishly. “My name is Eric by the way.”

“I’m Dele,” he smiles in response and feels butterflies in his stomach when the handsome man smiles back brightly, showing his perfect white teeth. 

“So why are you here today, Dele? I see you have a little friend with you,” the beautiful veterinarian asks and Dele melts a little bit, hearing his name coming from these lips. 

“Well, I found this kitten under my car and it clearly needs help…”

“It’s very nice that you brought it to us, can I have a look?” he asks. 

Dele hands him the small cat carefully and watches as the veterinarian Eric puts it on the examination table and starts the checkup. 

“It’s a girl,” is the first thing he says, “I’ll take her blood to see if she has any viruses but as I suspect from what I see, she definitely has some, hopefully not something serious. Right now I’ll try to clean up her eye and we'll see how much it’s damaged. You can stay or you can go and come tomorrow because I will certainly keep her with me for the night. I’ll put her on a drip because she looks dehydrated.”

“Will she be okay?” Dele asks hesitantly. He can’t stand the thought that the kitten won’t make it. He feels responsible and attached to her even though he found her less than an hour ago. 

“I’ll do my best and you have to do your best too, little lady,” Eric says, talking to the cat. Dele thinks he might pass out from the cuteness of it all: the tall bulky guy with a serious looking face talking to the kitten. Dele has to admit that he is completely smitten with Eric.

“How old do you think she is?” Dele asks curiously when Eric starts preparing to draw her blood and clean up her bad eye. He feels somewhat scared watching the veterinarian pull out instruments. “And of course I’m gonna stay while you tend to her.”

“Oh, I think she’s around 4 or 5 months as I can estimate from her size,” Eric says with a thoughtful face. “She’s a teenage cat, not a baby. I’m pretty sure she has her own personality, she’s just scared now and doesn’t know how to react because I’m sure she’s never been in a situation like this. But I guess she’s pretty used to being around people.” 

“Yeah, she let me take her without any fuss and I figured out that she’s used to people,” Dele answers, “Maybe someone has been feeding her”.

“She doesn’t look very starved so I think you might be right. Okay, I’m ready, this will take about ten minutes max.”

Dele watches as the beautiful veterinarian first takes a blood sample and then starts cleaning up the bad eye. The kitten is very patient and lets him do anything to her. Eric is so gentle and Dele watches him mesmerized, thinking what these big hands could do to him. Very inappropriate but he couldn’t help himself. 

“So, a Black Panther saving a kitten?”

Dele looks up and sees this handsome man looking at him with a kind smile. His stupid heart starts racing and he feels his palms sweat a little bit. 

“I just couldn’t leave her. She looked so miserable.”

“You did the right thing. Will you keep her?” Eric asks hopefully. Dele has no willpower to say no to him. And he’s already in love with this ugly cat so the answer is ready on his lips. 

“I think I will. Even though I have never had a cat in my life.” 

“I can help you. If you want to of course,” Eric adds hastily. Dele can’t help but notice a slight blush on his cheeks. 

“Thank you, it would be very nice of you,” Dele answers, trying not to be too obvious about his huge crush. It is a very hard task because this man is plain gorgeous.

“Looks like her eye is not that bad,” Eric comments, “You can take a closer look.”

Dele takes a step forward to the examination table. The kitten looks already so much healthier. The crust from her bad eye is gone and it looks alright. 

“Wow,” Dele breaths out, “You’ve made a miracle.”

“Well, then we both have made it. I think she needs a round of antibiotics and then she’d be a very healthy kitten,” Eric says sheepishly. “I’ll keep her at my place tonight since we are closing the clinic for the night and you are our only patient. She needs an IV and I want to monitor her conditions just to be safe.” 

“You don’t have too…” Dele starts but Eric quickly interrupts him with “It’s okay, I don’t mind. I have four dogs so a kitten won’t be a bother at all. And I’ll be more at peace knowing that I can check on her at anytimes.” 

“Well, if you say so but what about your dogs... “ Dele mumbles as he watches Eric putting the kitten in the carrier. 

“They’ll be ecstatic to have a guest,” Eric says with a sense of finality in his words. Dele can’t find another reason to argue. 

“I’m so grateful for what you’re doing for her, thank you so much.” 

Eric seems to become even more red in the face. 

“You’re so welcome. When she’s a little older, we can get her fixed.” 

“Oh, we definitely will,” Dele says. He won’t miss an opportunity to see a charming blushy veterinarian and be a responsible cat owner, thank you very much. 

“You can leave me your number and I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you when you can pick her up. Maybe I’ll leave her with me for the weekend. We’ll see.”

Dele takes a piece of paper that Eric gives him and writes his number. Then they say goodbye to each other, both smiling like two idiots. Dele doesn’t want to leave so bad but he has to. The veterinary clinic is closing and he feels awful for keeping the beautiful doctor on the holiday’s eve. By the door Dele turns and says “I’ll be waiting for your call, Star Lord”.

Eric laughs and answers “Talk to you soon, Black Panther”.

Dele hastily says goodbye to Steffi and goes out to the street thinking that he must have lost his mind. Why the hell was he spurting out all these lame lines? He takes his phone out of his pocket and sees a lot of new messages and five missed calls from his brother. He calls his number and whines when he hears his voice “Harry, I’m such a fool!”

“Oh I know, trust me,” his brother answers patiently, “what’s happened?”

“We might have a cat now,” Dele says. “And I might have fallen in love.”

Harry just sighs.

* * *

Next day Dele wakes up with a heavy head and thinks that maybe he has dreamt this all up. Has he really met the most handsome veterinarian in London? And has he successfully made a complete fool of himself with his lame commentary? Just wow. Great job, Dele. 

Dele waits till it’s after noon to crawl out of his room because he already knows that he’ll be properly grilled by Harry and Robin. Last night he decided to skip the party, and they came back so late that he fell asleep alone without them. But today they’ll be oh so ready to give him the stick. 

Of course, he finds them both sitting at the kitchen table looking worse for wear. 

“Good morning!” he chirps loudly and Harry winces “Did you guys have fun last night?”

“Yeah, we did. You were the talk of the town for the good part of the evening” Harry says grumpily. Robin giggles and adds “You did right, Del. Saved a poor cat from the street, found some good dick in the process. Will you ask him out when you go back to the veterinary?” 

“I don’t know. He was very friendly. And blushed a lot. Well, I was so stunned by his beauty that I acted like a complete and utter fool. Couldn’t even properly flirt, was just staring at him like a total creep.”

“You can’t flirt for life. All you do is make stupid jokes and act like a dork” Harry laughs, then winces once again. Dele doesn’t even try to be offended, he totally knows that his brother is right. 

“Couldn’t even joke this time. I think he ruined me” Dele sighs.

“You wouldn’t be against him ruining you” Robin huffs. “If you like him so much, you should totally take your chance.” 

“I will try. Hopefully, I didn’t misread the signals and won’t get punched in the face.”

“If he punches you, I will kick his ass no matter how many kittens he has saved,” Robin can be very scary so Dele feels a little bit sorry for Eric even if he ends up punching Dele. 

“So what are you guys eating? I’m fucking starving,” Dele looks predatory at three pizza boxes on the table. 

“Help yourself,” Harry nods towards pizza boxes. Dele doesn't need to hear another word and attacks the food viciously. Both Robin and Harry look at him with disgust while he basically devours a whole piece at once. 

The truth is none of them can cook without burning down the whole house. So they are constantly living off cereal, instant noodles and pizza. A very sad life, if Dele is being honest. He would literally kill for a home-made dinner. 

After breakfast they sit and discuss their plans for the rest of the weekend. Dele tries to make a list of what he needs to buy for the cat but fails miserably because he knows literally nothing about cats. Harry and Robin are quite useless too. They are all dog persons. 

“Do you have a name in mind?” Harry asks when they’ve exhausted all their poor knowledge about cats. 

“I’ve thought about that, and the only thing that came to my mind is that she weirdly reminded me of Dexter. So I might call her that,” Dele shrugs. “I have no other ideas. And she totally looks like a serial killer to me.”

“As in a serial killer Dexter?” asks Harry incredulously “You’re insufferable. You always have the stupidest ideas.”

“Well then, you can tell me all your bright ideas…” but then his phone rings and Dele doesn’t have a chance to finish his thought.

Of course it’s Eric and he says that the cat is in an excellent condition and Dele can come and get her in an hour if he can. Dele’s heart flutters like crazy. His crush is so huge that he doesn’t even find strength to snap back at his brother who mercilessly teases him non-stop while he tries to make himself look good but not like he tried really hard to look good. 

He walks out the door with another insult from Harry and good luck from Robin. He tries not to feel nervous and while he’s walking, he replays in his head over and over again all the different scenarios that can happen. He calmly explains to himself that nothing awful will happen if Eric says no to him. Of course he will be sad for awhile but it’s not the end of the world. At least, he will have a cat to cheer him up.

When he enters the veterinary, he is greeted by a new face at the reception. There sits a guy who looks even younger than Dele himself. 

“Hi, i’m Patrick, how can I help you?” 

“Hi, my name is Dele and Eric called me to come and get my cat.”

Patrick smiles knowingly and says “I’ll go get him.” Dele doesn’t suspect anything strange because he is too occupied with thoughts about seeing a beautiful veterinarian once again. 

While Dele is waiting alone, his heart starts beating faster and faster with every second. He feels really stupid but can’t help himself. He tries to find a distraction and looks at the photos decorating the walls. Eric seems to have a huge family and they all are terrifyingly beautiful and look like they absolutely adore all kinds of animals. There is even a picture of a little, very blond Eric, no older than 10, with a newborn baby horse, smiling proudly like he participated in the delivery himself. Dele wouldn’t be surprised if he truly did. He smiles fondly and resists the urge to stroke Eric’s cute baby face. He is right that he shouldn’t do it because at this very moment Eric appears. He is alone and he holds a cat carrier in his hands. 

“Hi, Dele,” Eric says and Dele’s second guessing himself one more time because the beautiful animal doctor seems to have a blush on his cheeks once again. Is it because of Dele? He might never know if he won’t ask him out. 

Eric puts the carrier on the desk and Dele curiously peeks inside. The cat is a little bit scared but other than that she looks totally fine.

“Hi, Eric,” Dele says, very pleased to see him again, “How’s she?”

“She’s great! Very good appetite and her blood tests are okay. I’ll write a recipe for some eye drops and antibiotics and she’ll be as good as new in a few days. By the way, have you come up with the name?”

“Well, the only name that I’ve come up with is Dexter…” Dele says, feeling a little bit lame. 

Eric laughs and Dele’s heart skips a beat. 

“That is a very interesting choice, I won’t lie.”

“Her fur reminded me of the color of his hair and I won’t stop thinking about it,” Dele shrugs helplessly. “So, how much do I owe you?” Dele asks, pulling out his wallet. He mentally prepares himself to pay and then to ask. So if he hears the answer that he won’t like, he can leave and try to bury these memories very far away in the darkest corner of his mind. 

“It might sound very creepy,” Eric cringes visibly and blushes even more profusely, “But you can pay me with a date.”

Dele’s rendered speechless. He really hoped that Eric was into him but to hear it coming straight from his mouth is still so surprising. But now that he knows that the feeling is mutual he can go on him full force. Dele smirks slightly and answers “I think I’ll prefer to actually pay you for your service but we still should go on a date, I’m all in for that.”

“Oh my god, I’m such an idiot,” Eric hides his burning face behind his hands, “Why have I thought that this is a good idea to ask you out like that?”

“It’s okay,” Dele laughs lightheartedly and squeezes Eric’s forearm, feeling brave all of the sudden. It feels so good to know that it is truly him who makes Eric so flustered and smitten. It’s the best feeling in the world if he’s being honest. “You got ahead of me. I was also going to say something stupid to ask you out. You spared me the humiliation.”

“I have another suggestion... Do you want to pay only the cost of the medicine? I wouldn’t like to charge you for my work, I would love to help Dexter for free for you.”

Dele doesn’t find the strength to fight him and pays a whole lot of 300 pounds, still a bit much for a bookstore worker but totally worth it, thinks Dele when he sees Eric’s happy smile and looks into his bright blue eyes. He tries to listen to Eric’s instructions about what he needs to buy for the cat but soon falls victim to his good looks and just stares longingly at his moving lips, daydreaming about what it would feel like to kiss them.

“Are you even listening?” Eric laughs, noticing Dele’s glassy stare. Dele is a bit embarrassed but shrugs nonetheless. “Okay, I get it, I’m too boring, I’ll write you a list.”

“You are not boring, you are too distractive,” Dele whines, “I can’t concentrate when you look this good.”

Eric huffs and has a nerve to wink at him before he starts writing a list on a piece of paper from the notebook. Dele rests his elbows on the counter and stares at him shamelessly, feeling that he has every right to do it now. The beautiful blond starts to turn red a little bit once again when he notices how close Dele is. He tries to play it off like he isn’t bothered by their close proximity but Dele’s content knowing that he is. It makes him bold enough to be even more flirty. Despite what his brother has said, Dele knows that he’s got game, when he wants to be charming he can very much be it.

“So when are we going on a date?” Dele asks without beating around the bush. 

“I have a free day tomorrow,” Eric answers without missing a beat. 

“I work till 9 at Waterstones on High Street.”

“I can pick you up after work. And we can walk. Or have an ice-cream,” Eric looks sheepish, “Or have a couple of drinks…”

“Ice-cream is totally cool with me. It’s a date then,” Dele smiles and Eric smiles in return, handing him a note with his neat writing. Dele takes a list, touches Eric’s fingers and holds on to them. They stare at each other and Dele feels magnetized. He can’t ignore this uncontrollable urge to just lean over the counter and kiss Eric right on the lips without any preamble. He even starts leaning slowly and might have done it but Patrick decides that it is the right time to appear in the hallway out of nowhere. Dele feels pissed, even though they totally shouldn’t have kissed on Patrick’s bloody workplace over the counter, but Eric himself looks regretful too and Dele feels that his anger is a little bit justified.

So they just hastily say goodbye to each other, both looking quite embarrassed, because Patrick looks too pleased with himself and can’t stop smirking knowingly. He certainly knows too much, and Dele can’t wait to drill Eric about it tomorrow. 

First thing first, Dele finds the nearest pet shop and, checking with the list, buys Dexter a couple of toys, a cosy bed and a litter box which he later sprays with a very smelly spray for her to get used to going to the toilet in a proper place. At first, Dexter is very shy but after a couple of hours her real persona already shines through. By the evening she’s galloping around their flat, bumping into their legs and tearing the place apart. Ironically, Harry calls Dexter a creature from hell, and they both hate each other from the very first sight. 

As it very soon turns out Dexter’s extremely naughty and as Eric has rightfully predicted has her very own personality. She has a demonic nature through and through. She destroys everything she sees with her claws, digs up soil in every flower pot that Robin has, pees anywhere she wants (her very favourite place is under the bathtub, Dele doesn't understand how she even finds it comfortable, there’s so little space), proudly brings Dele dead mice and sometimes still alive birds when he starts to let her out. At first he was very scared to do it but he had to after she mewed near the door for the whole day and after that she’s out a lot and Dele thinks they definitely need to install a cat door now. She’s a street cat after all. And that of course has fixed a bathroom problem instantly.

Dele loves Dexter madly. She’s his own little demon who falls asleep next to him and hisses at Harry every morning when he tries to wake him up. And what is the most important - she helped him catch Eric. 

As for Eric, he is simply the best. Dele has lost the amount of times they’ve been on dates and each of them was better than the one before. From the very first day they are inseparable and see each other all the time. When Dele has a day off, he goes and bothers Eric at the veterinary clinic, cuddles puppies and kittens. A lot of days after Eric’s shift they walk 15 minutes to Dele’s home to have a dinner and watch something which oftentimes turns into very passionate sex. When Dele’s working, Eric often meets him after with a cup of coffee and they go for a walk holding hands and kissing at every corner. 

Beside that Eric is awesome with animals and kids, he has a huge loving family, as Dele knew already, more than half of it works in the clinic too. He cooks delicious food and makes Dele come so hard he even cried last time. Dele is obsessed with him. He’s not even jealous that Harry and Robin are totally in love with Eric too because of his master-chief cooking skills that he often demonstrates in the small kitchen of their duplex. 

Dele learned that Eric is 22 and is still in the veterinary school. Both of his parents are veterinarians so all of his life he spent near animals watching them being treated. Dexter wasn’t the only cat who Eric took in, Dele soon found out. Eric lives on the farm with his brother Patrick and has a never ending string of animals, homeless and not, who he tends to and then returns to their guardians or tries to find a new home for them. Dele calls him Snow White because Eric seems to attract every animal in 1 km radius wherever he goes. He is awesome and Dele thinks he’s already madly in love with him even after only seeing him for a month. 

At this very moment Dele is laying in bed on Eric’s chest, Dexter is happily sleeping literally on their pillow behind their heads. They’ve just had mind-blowing sex even though it was quite hard: the cat was meowing non-stop trying to force her way into the bedroom till they have finished and let her in eventually. Harry and Robin were thankfully out for the night otherwise this literal cat’s concert won't be highly appreciated. 

Dele is very content just laying there with Eric in silence, there is no other place he’d rather be. The cat is also purring sweetly in his ear, Eric is stroking his back so nicely, and Dele finds himself drifting into sleep. He’s almost out when he hears Eric say out of the blue:

“I wanna shave my head so bad, will you still call me a Snow White?”

“Of course I will,” Dele answers sleepily, “You’ll be my beautiful bald Snow White. I think you’ll look beautiful with or without hair. You’re a literal angel. Heaven sent you to me.”

“Del, you’ve listened to Ariana Grande too much” Eric huffs but Dele hears in his voice that he is flustered. 

Dele never stops praising Eric, either be it his good looks or tasty cooking or just taking care of Dele in bed or in life in general. He takes really good care of him, and Dele never gets tired of telling him that he’s the best. Eric is not that good with returning the favor verbally, but he always hugs Dele so tight and kisses him so sweetly, that Dele doesn’t need words to know that Eric feels the same way. 

“I don’t listen to this kind of music” Dele grimaces, wondering where Eric learned about his questionable music taste. “I only like hip hop.”

“Aha,” Eric hums, drawing circles and hearts on Dele’s naked back. “Harry has sent me your Spotify username. I’ve had quite a fun time watching you listen to Ariana, Dua Lipa and One Direction.”

“I hate my brother, he’s the worst,” Dele mumbles, trying to fight a yawn. “And I was wrong, you are not an angel, you are a demon. You and Dexter both came from hell to taunt me.”

“I will truly taunt you till you’ve read at least one book, just one! You work in a bookstore, and you never read!” Eric always sounds so upset about this fact and makes this pained facial expression like Dele has personally kicked a puppy right in front of his eyes. 

“Here I was trying to sleep but you, your future bald head and your fucking reading…” Dele sighs, pretending to be annoyed. He can’t truly be, because no longer than an hour ago he was fed delicious food, then properly fucked and now he just can’t feel anything other than pure contentment. “I’ll read something. I promise.”

Tomorrow Eric brings him Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Dele curses at him and whines a lot but in the end reads all seven books in seven weeks. For him it’s a huge achievement. Turns out that reading isn’t that bad after all. Eric can’t stop bragging about his victory when next week he catches Dele crying while reading Call Me by Your Name. Robin gave him the book when Eric was in classes and Dele was bored out of his mind, he started reading it and then couldn’t stop. 

Dele thinks a lot about how well they compliment each other. They walk Eric’s dogs in some field near his farm, holding hands and Eric is excitedly telling him how yesterday in the middle of the night he was saving some stupid fox who got stuck in a fence. As often happens, Dele’s mind drifts off and he’s just watching Eric with a stupid smile, not quite listening, but admiring his handsome face. 

Eric stops abruptly and huffs “You’re not listening as always.”

Dele laughs and throws his arms around Eric’s neck hugging him. Eric grumbles but gives in and puts his hands on Dele’s waist. 

“You make me even more stupid than I already am, I just look at you and my mind goes blank.”

“You’re not stupid, stop that,” Eric tuts, pulling him closer. 

They are hugging in the middle of a snowy field and Dele thinks how cheesy and perfect this is. He fixes Eric’s crooked beanie, looks at the snowflakes on his lashes and blurts out “I love you so much. I think I did from the very first time that I saw you. I don’t know why I haven’t said it before. Maybe I waited for you to do it first because I was scared to do it myself.” 

Eric chuckles. “Guess, we are actually both stupid, baby. I wanted to say it for a long time too but didn’t want to scare you away.”

“Oh my god,” Dele laughs hiding his freezing face in Eric’s neck. “We are definitely made for each other.”

“Indeed we are. And yes, I love you too, love you so much.”

Dele smiles so hard his face hurts. He should buy Dexter extra tasty snacks, because without her he would never be this happy.


End file.
